Gannett, the US publisher, last night agreed a £444m deal to acquire regional newspaper group News Communications & Media.
The deal sees off the attentions of two rival bidders for Newscom, Johnston Press and Trinity Mirror, in the rapidly consolidating regional newspaper market. It also ends a long period of uncertainty for Newscom, which first attracted Gannett's attention in December last year and had to wait for months while all three putative bids were cleared by the competition commission.
The cash offer is £18 per Newscom share which the US company said was a 77% premium to the acquired firm's price in December.
The acquisition consolidates Gannett's position in Britain after it bought Newsquest, the third largest publisher of regional papers, for £1.3bn last year. Newsquest owns 187 titles delivered to 8m homes. In the US, Gannett publishes 74 daily newspapers and owns 22 television stations. Newscom adds another 120 newspapers to Gannett's stable including the South Wales Argus and Hampshire Chronicle.
James Brown, executive chairman of Newsquest and president of Gannett UK, said: "Newscom is a fine company with a great history... We feel that a combination of its existing strength added to that of Newsquest's and Gannett's will bring exciting new opportunities to all our newspapers and related internet sites."
